Snow = overtime

Published 7:00 pm, Friday, February 29, 2008

While a Feb. 22 storm led to car accidents galore, police today said the roads were pretty much clear Friday night, when the snow started falling.

New Milford reported one accident at 9 a.m. Saturday involving a town plow which flipped onto the driver's side while trying to sand Hine Road.

Luckily, no injuries were reported.

With bright sunshine and temperatures reaching to 40 degrees, the storm was little more than an afterthought by Saturday afternoon.

While the latest storm didn't pack much wallop, the fact it happened on a weekend might hit towns in the wallet.

Weekend snow means weekend overtime for town highway workers, many of whom worked Friday evening until noon Saturday.

New Milford Public Works Director Michael Zarba estimated Saturday there was about $70,000 budgeted for overtime snow removal. That number has been blown out of the water.

"I think 10 of the 18 storms that we've counted this season have happened on a weekend or a holiday," said Zarba, who has requests pending for additional appropriations or budget transfers to handle snow-removal costs.

Danbury is spending cash on overtime as well.

In late January Danbury Public Works Director Antonio Iadarola sent a letter to the Common Council saying his budget "has been impacted severely, early in the season," by the unusual number of storms happening on weekends.

He pointed out that employees make double time when they work on Sundays.

On Feb. 6, the Danbury Common Council authorized another $177,000 be spent on snow removal, of which $125,000 went directly to overtime salaries.

Area town councils, selectmen and highway department heads will probably be crunching the numbers again this week.